Film Review: Ghost Photos - The Cursed Images (2006)

Amidst
their parent's separation, Toshiko and her brother find an old camera
in their late grandfather's room. Afterward, Toshi's brother sends her
an ominous image of a dark forest, which begins to haunt her...

Ghost
Photos: The Cursed Images, or simply Ghost Photos, is a slow-burn
J-horror film. The story continues to follow Toshi as her mind is
clouded by the mysterious image. She experiences some odd supernatural
events, and begins to see a ghost in her everyday life. Eventually, she
receives more photos on her cell phone that the senders don't remember
taking -- each with a ghostly figure looming in the background. This
short ghost tale leads to a sad yet satisfying ending -- it really tries
to tie up all of its loose ends.

The story is very simple, but
the subtitles are poorly translated -- you will really have to translate
some of the English subtitles yourself -- which may make the story hard
to follow. The horror consists of an ominous atmosphere and some spooky
images and ghost scenes. There aren't many traditional jump-scares, and
there isn't much suspense going on between set-pieces, though, which really makes this film feel more like a drama than a horror film. The ending is
haunting, as expected from a good J-horror film, but the trip to the
ending feels uneventful and bloated -- unfortunate, considering the
already short runtime.

The acting was great from the cast, some
of the dialogue delivery was robotic, but the lead was charismatic and
smooth with her delivery. The storytelling is smooth, but the subtitles
may be an issue -- I really liked the subtle foreshadowing. The music
was ominous and spooky whenever it played. The ghost was well-designed,
but underutilized.

Overall, Ghost Photos: The Cursed Images
was
an okay film. Fans of J-horror and slow-burners will get the most out of
it, though. The biggest flaw is the lack of significant events, which
made the short runtime feel longer than usual. It's really nothing
special, but not terrible, either.